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Sunday, 6 July 2008

Sono arrivato in Italia

Hi there,

We left in England in the small hours on Friday, like a couple of refugees, with two suitcases packed pretty much up to the weight limit, after having abandoned a few more worldly posessions. My suitcase is on loan from Mum and Dad - it was stored up in their loft. It's a bit cheap, as I found out when the wheels bust. We took an ironically-named (especially if you have to change at Reading) sleeper service from St. David's. It's basically a train where the lights are very slightly dimmed and the seats seem to be designed to do something, but it's anybody's guess what that is. Apart from being a bit of a pain, the train journey went very well.

It was fine at the airport too really, but airports are fiddly, and when you're dragging arround as many posessions as possible, you don't want fiddly. Monica flew really well, so I could have a quick final gaze out at England with impunity, and at the Alps when we were over them. I like looking at the Alps from planes when I have the opportunity. Monica's Dad (Carlo) picked us up from the airport (Bologna Forli) which was very good, but it was oppressively hot, so it seemed to take forever to get to Offagna. We were both very tired, or rather, I was very tired and Monica was shattered.

So here we are. We haven't been up to a great deal so far, but we've been planning what to do this coming week, and I've been speaking Italian a fair amount - it's easier than the last time I think. I'm using Memorylifter (great program) to help me with my 'Mastering Italian Vocabulary' book and we went to mass yesterday. We have to go to the British Consulate in Firenze to get wedding paperwork, among other things. Yesterday we caught some of the final of Offagna's inter-district(?) football match between San Bernardino and Sacramento. Monica said she wanted Sacramento to win because S. Bernardino are quite smug ("and the whole village says so"). Her story would appear to check out sartorially at least - they were playing in pale pink strips with golden numbers; they looked pretty poncy.

It's much noisier here than I'm used to, but I was expecting it because I've visited. Monica's house is next to the main road through the village and the youth (perhaps they are disenfranchised - I haven't made a thorough study) drive through it on absurdly loud bikes, or bike equivalents. Shutters are a very good idea.

It probably goes without saying, but I've been enjoying eating here.

I think that's probably enough to be getting on with. I'll type something again in a bit, I shouldn't wonder. I would think that being on foreign parts should provide me with plenty of subject matter.